35 Weeks Pregnant - Finalized our Birth Plan!

My wife is now at 35 weeks pregnant. My baby girl is now 5-1/4 pounds and over 18 inches long from her head to heels, weighs as much as a Honeydew Melon! There's not much room to maneuver now that she's running out of room in the uterus.

According to Babycenter guest blogger Katie Marsh Lord, 35 weeks pregnant marks the start of the "Pathetic" stage of pregnancy. This blogger also refers to it as the very uncomfortable, very pregnant, and kind of over it stage. (My wife says that is SO true!)

The pathetic stage was a term coined by this blogger's husband as she says one of the most bone-headed things he said during her pregnancy. I can sympathize because I've had my share of bone-headed moments as a new dad.

As we're nearing the end, we are preparing. My wife is cutting back her hours at work to 6.5 hours a day instead of 8. She has become much more exhausted and cannot work full time anymore. We've also heard it's good to start making double portions of dinners and freezing them for when we have our little one home from the hospital and we are shorter on time. We also need to think of what to start packing for a hospital bag. According to Babycenter, here are some good things to pack:

Hospital Bag Packing List

•drivers license
•birth plan
•glasses
•toiletries
•bathrobe
•camera
•money
•anything else helpful

Speaking of a Birth Plan, this week is a good time to finalize one if you haven't already. My wife Nikki just finished ours, and here it is:


Our Birth Plan

Plan A: Water Birth

Plan B: Deliver using a variety of pushing positions- avoiding laying on back during pushing.

Care Preferences: Natural comfort measures (water therapy, massage, moving around), Minimal interventions, IV pain medication as a last resort, NO Epidural

After Delivery:
•Baby placed skin-to-skin immediately (goo and all).
•Cord Blood Banked immediately
•Avoid any testing or treatments such as antibiotic eye cream application, blood testing, and first bath until after first feeding.
•Skin-to-Skin contact as much as possible.


Sympathy Weight Update: Gained 2, now at 206 lbs, my sympathy weight gained stands at 21 lbs so far. (This may or may not have had something to do with increased fast food intake) :)

Well that's all for now, next week my baby will weigh as much as a crenshaw melon... what the heck is a crenshaw melon - see it here???

See How My Baby's Growing at 35 Weeks

See What's Happening Inside the Fetus this Week

See how big my baby is getting week by week, now she weighs as much as a Honeydew Melon! Ouch!!!

34 Weeks Pregnant - Crib Assembly, Finishing Nursery

My wife is now at 34 weeks pregnant. My baby girl is now 4-3/4 pounds and 18 inches long from her head to heels, weighs as much as a Cantaloupe! There's not a lot going on in there besides the baby getting fatter. Her fat layers which help regulate her body temperature after being born are filling out giving her that rounder, plumper look that we all love babies to have :) Also this week her central nervous system and lungs are becoming more sophisticated every day preparing for life outside the womb. Our baby is now completely viable, meaning, if my wife Nikki went into labor early our baby should be just fine with a possible stay in the neonatal unit.

So this is now crunch time! This is the last several weeks until the baby comes. My wife and I are scrambling to finish last minute tasks that we won't have time for soon like finishing the nursery. I just finished putting together the crib my mom purchased for us. I made a short time lapse of me putting it together:


Crib Assembly Time Lapse

I also need to finish the rest of the nursery by touching up paint, setting up the furniture, and purchasing an air filter so our beautiful baby's lungs stay healthy. Of course, she will be sleeping in her bassinet in our room at first.

My wife Nikki is starting to reach the point where she just wants the baby out. The fatigue is wearing on her and it's hard for her to get quality sleep with the tossing and turning as well as more frequent trips to the bathroom.

I wish I could take some of the burden off her shoulders. If I could I would carry the baby, I would love to experience pregnancy first hand if that was possible. However, I probably would not handle it nearly as well as her, and would probably be complaining much, much more. As strong as us guys can be, I don't think we could handle the pain of pregnancy well.

What do you think about that? Take my survey to the Right of the page >>>>>>
Chime in on your opinion about men carrying a baby if that was possible, and thanks!

Sympathy Weight Update:Unchanged at 204 lbs, my sympathy weight gained stands at 19 lbs so far.

Well that's all for now, next week my baby will weigh as a cantaloupe... GOOD GOD, believe it or not! I feel so bad for my poor wife. I love her so much!

See How My Baby's Growing at 34 Weeks

See What's Happening Inside the Fetus this Week

See how big my baby is getting week by week, now she weighs as much as a Cantaloupe! Ouch!!!

To bank cord blood or not to bank cord blood... that is the question!

That is what my wife and I are trying to decide. Actually, we've mostly made up our mind, mostly because my mother-in-law is a big supporter of it and helped my sister-in-law finance it and is going to help us too. In an effort to be unbiased and offer a service for the readers of baby in my baby, for this post I will pretend we don't have the influence of financial assistance. As with all of my posts I'll let you make up your own mind. First, let's talk about why people bank cord blood.

Cord blood is rich in young stem cells that is obtained by capturing the blood in the umbilical cord when it is clamped and cut at birth. Cord blood stem cells are being currently used to effectively treat some forms of cancer, blood and immune genetic diseases, and some blood disorders. While it has become much more common, critics of cord blood collection still argue that it may be more valuable for the baby to get as much of the cord blood as possible at birth instead of saving it. On the other hand, supporters claim that some of these valuable cells will be wasted without the banking.

When banking cord blood, you'll typically receive a cord blood collection kit with everything the hospital needs to collect it, and then it's your responsibility to ship it via overnight courier to the cryogenic facility to be put in frozen storage. The company we went with is CBR, and here's a video showing the cord blood kit contents we received so you know what to expect:


CBR Cord Blood Kit Contents

The bottom line is, the jury in the medical community is still out and it should be a personal decision for new parents. Private cord blood banking is a relatively new practice that has to be a personal decision for parents. Costs can range from $800-$2,000 or more for the initial cord blood banking, and then several hundreds of dollars per year to store in a cryogenic facility.

Cord blood banking is a significant ongoing expense which is sold by private banks as a life insurance policy that is a smart decision. Many times they say that if siblings or other family members are a match, they also could potentially use the blood if they develop a disorder that could be treated with the blood.

Another argument in support of storing cord blood is that science will most surely continue advancing and some of the uses for this blood may not be in practice today yet. This is another idea that is communicated by companies trying to convince you to save this precious blood.

In the end, as with most decisions as new parents, you have to make the call. My wife are going with CBR (Cord Blood Registry), and we just received our kit which we need to bring to the hospital, but I still have my reservations. We most surely would not have done it if we needed to come up with the entire cost ourselves. However, with all that considered we do think it's a wise choice for the scientific future potential uses for the blood as a good investment. Perhaps if either of us or a sibling is a match, if any of us gets cancer, (which runs in our family) then perhaps we could benefit.

Worst case scenario would be if this money and the blood were never used and wasted, however, there are worse things to spend your money on. Also, if we get older and think it will not be used we could donate it or turn it over to our children and it could potentially be past on to the next generation as long as the blood could still be viable.

Hope this blog helps and whether you bank cord blood or not, thanks for reading!

33 Weeks Pregnant - The Final Stretch! (pun intended)

My wife is now at 33 weeks pregnant, the Final Stretch! (pun intended) My baby girl is now 4 pounds and 17 inches long from her head to heels, weighs as much as a Pinapple! OUCH!!! I'm sure glad I don't have a pineapple inside me...

Our baby is quickly losing that wrinkled look and starting to really plump up fast. She's moving more and I can feel the different body parts pushing against the tummy. I think I could feel a foot, a hand, elbow, back, head, and even the mushy butt! Also, it's amazing to put my ear against her belly, I can hear the heartbeat clearly and can hear lots of moving in there. My mom's a nurse and I'm going to borrow a stethoscope so my wife Nikki can hear the baby too.

Speaking of Nikki, my wife, have I mentioned how beautiful she is? I don't think I have nearly enough. People keep telling her that she has really "popped" in the last couple weeks. She keeps saying she's fat, in fact she even said it in her sleep tonight saying it's hard to flip over to her other side. I just comforted her and told her how beautiful she is. Honestly, curves just adds to her beauty :) She is my dream girl that's gracefully carrying my baby girl, I couldn't ask for more in life!

So much has happened this week. We just finished our Lamaze classes at Babylove. If you live in the Minneapolis / St Paul (Twin Cities) area and are expecting you simply must check them out! They are all about natural healthy childbirth and our instructor Brittany was second to none! Also, the baby has been breached for about 4 weeks up until now. My wife's chiropractor practiced the "Webster Technique" to turn the baby head down like she should be. After only one adjustment of her hips it seemed to create more room. Last week my wife felt the baby starting to move way more after the adjustment, and when we had another prenatal exam on Monday, she had finally turned! It really seemed to work for us.

So that's it, for now, we're in the final stretch, we have our first baby shower this weekend and we're hoping to start filling up our nursery.

Sympathy Weight Update: lost a few again, back down to 204 lbs, my sympathy weight gained stands at 19 lbs so far! I went running with our dog Harry so maybe I'll do that some more and eat healthier.

Well that's all for now, next week my baby will weigh as a cantaloupe... GOOD GOD, believe it or not! I feel so bad for my poor wife. I love her so much!

See How My Baby's Growing at 33 Weeks

See What's Happening Inside the Fetus this Week

See how big my baby is getting week by week, now she weighs as much as a Pinapple! Ouch!!!

30 Weeks Pregnant - Belly Button Popped Out!

My wife is now at 30 weeks pregnant. My baby girl is now 15.7 inches long from her head to heels, as big as a Large Cabbage! Right now there is about a 1-1/2 pints of amniotic fluid and is starting to hit her growth spurt.

She now keeps her eyes open most of the day even though it's pitch dark, however she can sense bright light coming in through her skin. Her eyesight is not very keen yet, about 20/400 put is improving all the time.

My wife's belly button popped out now. She actually started to cry when she realized it and I didn't know what was wrong until she told me. I tried to comfort her, she really wasn't that upset, she says the hormones just overcame her and it just made her cry.

We also had our fouth Lamaze class in a 6-week program. I learned it's not just about breathing anymore. It's run by 2 Doulas and is called Baby Love in Eagan, MN. Our Instructor, Brittany is very nice and informative. We are learning so much about how to create a birth plan that's right for us and how to be good to yourself during this important time.

Also, I'm learning more about how to prepare for the big day. I'm learning techniques how to support her like massage, holding her hand, walking through the contractions, sitting in the tub with her through labor pains, a technique called the butt squeeze where you put pressure on her upper buttocks. This is supposed to alleviate back pain especially if she starts to have back labor

Sympathy Weight Update: I'm a seesaw and gained another 5, now 208 lbs, my sympathy weight gained stands at 23 lbs so far! What are you going do right?

Well that's all for now, next week my baby will be as heavy as four large navel oranges, believe it or not! I feel so bad for my poor wife. I love her so much!

See How My Baby's Growing at 30 Weeks

See What's Happening Inside the Fetus this Week

See how big my baby is getting week by week, now she's as big as a Large Cabbage!

28 Weeks Pregnant - 3rd Trimester - Eyes Blinking!

My wife is now at 28 weeks pregnant today, the start of the third and final trimester! Finally!(says my wife) My baby girl is now 14.8 inches long from her head to heels, as big as a Chinese Cabbage! She now weighs 2-1/4 pounds she is getting bigger with even stronger movements.

She now can blink her eyes and has prominent eyelashes. She also may be able to see sunlight through the womb and we saw this in action as she moved with the sun on her belly that was pouring in through the bedroom window one morning. Here's a video I shot of it:


Baby Moving in Uterus because of Sunlight!

We also noticed she's responding much more to music. We have been playing some classical, even some rock. There was this one part in a rock song where the drums started pounding pretty fast and right then you could see a rhthymic thumping in the mid section of my wife's tummy.

We also had our first Lamaze class in a 6-week program. I learned it's not just about breathing anymore. It's run by 2 Doulas and is called Baby Love in Eagan, MN. Our Instructor, Brittany is very nice and informative. I will share more about what we learn very soon.

Sympathy Weight Update: Actually Lost a few Pounds, 203 lbs, my sympathy weight gained stands at 18 lbs so far! Looks like those dog walks are paying off.

Well that's all for now, next week my baby will be as long as an Butternut Squash, believe it or not!

See How My Baby's Growing at 28 Weeks

See What's Happening Inside the Fetus this Week

See how big my baby is getting week by week, now it's a Chinese Cabbage!

26 Weeks Pregnant - Painting Baby's Room!

We thought very carefully on what color we wanted our Baby Girl's Room to be, and after long deliberation, actually my wife Nikki just decided for us :), we went with "Violet Eclipse." Nikki loves purple and this is me painting it on:


Baby Girl - Pregnancy - Nesting - Painting Baby's Room

My wife is now 26 weeks pregnant today. My baby girl is now 14 inches long, as big as a English hothouse cucumber! She now weighs 1-2/3 pounds she is really starting to make my wife's belly move when she moves! The nerves in her ear have grown to be more intricate now so they say she can hear conversations and she is getting used to the sound of our voices.

Also, her lungs are preparing for breathing by her actually inhaling small amounts of amniotic fluid into the developing air sacs in her lungs. She does this to practice and strengthen her chest muscles so when she emerges into the air she can take a gulp of air and continue through the rest of her life.

This week we're really starting the nesting process. I'm finishing painting the baby's room tonight and we will be starting a 6 week long Lamaze class in a couple weeks. Things are really coming along :) This week we've been busy reading and watching movies and I'd like to make a couple of recommendations to help with the process toward being a mother and father...

Recommended Movie:

This week we also watched a movie which I highly recommend! It's "In the Womb," a National Geographic Movie that uses revolutionary 3D and 4D scans to follow a birth from the moment of conception to the day the baby is born. It's so interesting and very educational for Mom and Dad to be.

Recommended Book for Dad:

My wife found a wonderful book which I'm reading, it's "The Expectant Father" - Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dads to Be by Armin A. Brott and Jennifer Ash
It's a great read so far and has a lot of helpful insight for real dads to be during each stage of the pregnancy.

Sympathy Weight Update: Wow, finally lost a couple pounds, I'm now 205 lbs, my sympathy weight gained stands at 20 lbs so far! This is probably due to how much work around the house I've been doing. Maybe "Honey Do" lists aren't that bad...

Well that's all for now, next week my baby will be as big as a Head of Cauliflower, believe it or not!

See How My Baby's Growing at 26 Weeks

See What's Happening Inside the Fetus this Week

See how big my baby is getting week by week, now it's a English Hothouse Cucumber!

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